During this month the winter cold fastens its grip, and nights are at their longest and darkest. It is also sometimes called the Moon before Yule. The term Long Night Moon is a doubly appropriate name because the midwinter night is indeed long, and because the Moon is above the horizon for a long time. The midwinter full Moon has a high trajectory across the sky because it is opposite a low Sun.

Tides

High:5:09am/5:34pm

Low:111:49am/11:15pm

Rainfall (measured July 1 – June 30)

This Year: 2.09

Last Year:8.89

Normal To Date:5.91

Annual Seasonal Average:23.80

Holidays

Human Rights Day

National Day of the Horse

Admission Day-Mississippi

National Lager Day

Terra Madre Day

International Shareware Day

UN Human Rights Day

Constitution Day-Thailand

Nobel Peace Prize Day

Foundation Day-Angola

Settler’s Day-Namibia

Ganga - Bois-Haiti

Nobel Prize Day

On This Day In …

1520 --- Martin Luther publicly burned the papal edict. The papacy demanded that he recant or face excommunication. Luther refused and was formally expelled from the church in January 1521.

1817 --- Mississippi, the state with the same name as the mighty river that borders it, and the 20th state, entered the USA this day. Although the Indian word, Mississippi, translates to ‘father of waters’, Mississippi’s nickname is the Magnolia State. Not so coincidentally, the state flower is the magnolia. The mockingbirds sitting on the branches of the magnolia trees are the state birds. Jackson, one of the largest cities in the state is also the state capital.

1869 --- Motivated more by interest in free publicity than a commitment to gender equality, Wyoming territorial legislators pass a bill that is signed into law granting women the right to vote. Western states led the nation in approving women's suffrage, but some of them had rather unsavory motives. Though some men recognized the important role women played in frontier settlement, others voted for women's suffrage only to bolster the strength of conservative voting blocks. In Wyoming, some men were also motivated by sheer loneliness--in 1869, the territory had over 6,000 adult males and only 1,000 females, and area men hoped women would be more likely to settle in the rugged and isolated country if they were granted the right to vote.

1901 --- The first Nobel Prizes are awarded in Stockholm, Sweden, in the fields of physics, chemistry, medicine, literature, and peace. The ceremony came on the fifth anniversary of the death of Alfred Nobel, the Swedish inventor of dynamite and other high explosives. In his will, Nobel directed that the bulk of his vast fortune be placed

in a fund in which the interest would be "annually distributed in the form of prizes to those who, during the preceding year, shall have conferred the greatest benefit on mankind." Although Nobel offered no public reason for his creation of the prizes, it is widely believed that he did so out of moral regret over the increasingly lethal uses of his inventions in war.

1910 --- Tenor Enrico Caruso and conductor Arturo Toscanini were featured at the Metropolitan Opera House in New York City for the world premiere of Puccini’s “The Girl of the Golden West”.

1927 --- For the first time, famed radio announcer George Hay introduced the WSM Barn Dance as The Grand Ole Opry. The show’s title may have changed but it remained the home of country music.

1930 --- Adolph Rupp’s Kentucky Wildcats defeated Georgetown College, 67-19. It was the first time Rupp coached Kentucky and he wowed the crowd on hand with a fast break style of basketball that was practically unheard of at the time. Rupp continued to coach at Kentucky for 44 years, winning 874 games and earning four national titles. The sports arena where the Wildcats play is named after Rupp.

1931 --- Jane Addams became a co-recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize, she was the first American woman to do so.

1948 --- The U.N. General Assembly adopted its Universal Declaration on Human Rights.

1949 --- Fats Domino recorded his first sides for Imperial Records. The legend from New Orleans recorded The Fat Man, one of the earliest rock and roll records. The title also turned into Domino’s

nickname and stayed with him through his years of success. For those with a burning desire to know, Fats’ real name is Antoine. The Fat Man, incidentally, is thought to have been a million-seller, but that can’t be verified.

1950 --- Dr. Ralph Bunche became the first African-American to receive a Nobel Peace Prize. He was undersecretary of the U.N. at the time.

1958 --- A National Airlines Boeing 707 with 111 passengers flew from New York to Miami. It was the first domestic passenger jet flight.

1965 --- The Grateful Dead played their first concert, at the Fillmore Auditorium in San Francisco.

1967 --- Otis Redding and four members of the Bar-Kays (Otis’ backup group) were killed in the crash of a private plane near Madison, Wisconsin. Redding was 26 years old. His signature song, (Sittin’ On) The Dock of the Bay was recorded three days before his death. It was #1 for four weeks beginning February 10, 1968. Redding was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1989.

1996 --- South Africa's President Mandela signed into law a new democratic constitution, completing the country's transition from white-minority rule to a non-racial democracy.

1998 --- Six astronauts opened the doors to the new international space station 250 miles above the Earth's surface.

1999 --- After three years under suspicion of being a spy for China, computer scientist Wen Ho Lee was arrested. He was charged with removing secrets from the Los Alamos weapons lab. Lee later pled guilty to one count of downloading restricted data to tape and was freed. The other 58 counts were dropped.

2007 --- NFL star Michael Vick was sentenced to 23 months in prison for bankrolling a dogfighting operation and killing dogs that underperformed.

2010 --- Bob Dylan's handwritten lyrics for his song "The Times They Are a-Changin" sold at auction for $422,500.